Bogus bank in heart of city raided

* Rs 8.4 million seized

* Rs 20,000m annual transactions

* Ex-bank manager among held

Suranjith PERERA, Dehiwela-Mount Lavinia corr.

The Colombo Fraud Bureau yesterday raided a bogus ‘money change’ centre at Second Cross Street in Pettah and took into custody three suspects together with Rs 8.4 million.

Among those arrested was the alleged kingpin who was the owner of a medicinal drugs centre down Vishaka Road, Bambalapitiya. The racket known as the Undiyal scheme was being carried out over a period of time throughout the Colombo city and suburbs on a large scale with the Second Cross Street address as the main centre.

Questioning the suspects revealed that they had exchanged currencies to Sri Lanka rupees to the value of Rs 20,000 million a year.

The Police have also questioned nine persons who were employed at this bogus bank housed in a super luxury two-storeyed building at the Second Cross Street address. Among those arrested were a retired manager of a prominent bank who functioned as the manager of the bogus bank and a former staff member of a private bank. The manager is a resident of Frazer Road, Dehiwela.

Police sources revealed that the clandestine money exchange where transactions were made of currency remitted from India, Canada, England, Germany, Switzerland and other countries was made use by a political party to carry out unlawful activities.

The Police also said that the centre which had been operating for over two and a half years on a large scale, also linked their business with other small time money exchanges in the city.

Following yesterday’s dawn raid, all Undiyal city money exchange centres in the city had shut down and their operators gone underground.